Honigman invests in local youth through partnerships with United Way, TutorMate

By Stephanie

Flint-Genesee County Legal News

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Honigman Miller Schwartz and Cohn LLP has underscored its commitment to the community with the formation of the Honigman Academy, an innovative program that provides local public high school students with a broad overview of life at a corporate law firm.

The inaugural eight-session program, which is the first of its kind in Detroit, was made possible through a partnership with United Way for Southeastern Michigan and its College and Career Pathways work with Cody Academy of Public Leader­ship (APL) High School.

The partnership was spearheaded by Honigman’s Chief Community Officer Fritz Morsches; Inclusion, Equity & Social Respon­sibility partner Khalilah V. Spencer; and Vice Community Involvement partner Gabrielle L. Sims. Joining United Way was a natural fit due to the close ties between the organization and Honigman’s leadership team. The firm’s Chairman and CEO David Foltyn has been a member of United Way for Southeastern Michigan’s Board of Directors since 2012 and he currently serves as its Vice Chair.

“We are intensely proud of the Honigman Academy, which is the culmination of more than five years of team work with United Way,” said Foltyn. “As a firm, we’re committed to giving back to the community in a way that will impact these students’ overall learning experience. More­over, as the first law firm to host such a program in Detroit, we hope Honigman Academy will serve as a model for our peers across the legal and professional services industries.”

Through the United Way partnership, Honigman worked with the leadership of Cody APL, a public high school in Northwest Detroit, to develop the Honigman Academy. The semester-long program exposes students to the full spectrum of legal and business disciplines required for a corporate law firm to operate. Volunteers from Honigman include lawyers, accountants, human resource staff and others. The Honigman Academy is a vital part of United Way for Southeastern Michigan’s College and Career Pathways program, which aims to graduate students prepared for college and a career.

“Our partnerships with vibrant companies like Honigman, who are leaders in their respective professions and are eager to share their crafts with our young people, are key to the success of the College and Career Pathways initiative” says Tammie Jones, vice president of College and Career Path­ways, United Way for Southeastern Michigan. “We value our longstanding partnership with them and their unwavering commitment to supporting this region’s next generation of leaders.”

Honigman’s dedication to education is not limited to the Honigman Academy; the firm also has a strong partnership with online volunteer tutoring program TutorMate. More than 70 Honigman attorneys and staff from its offices in Michigan and Chicago participate in the TutorMate program, which is dedicated to helping improve childhood literacy across the nation through one-on-one virtual tutoring.

“Honigman is the kind of partner that we dream about,” said Dan Weisberg, national director of TutorMate’s Online Literacy Program. “We hope that even more corporate partners will get involved and follow Honigman’s outstanding participation example, so that we can truly move the needle in our efforts against illiteracy.”

Honigman Miller Schwartz and Cohn LLP is a business law firm that serves clients in North America, Europe, Asia and other business centers around the world. Head­quartered in Detroit, the firm has offices in Chicago, Ann Arbor, Bloomfield Hills, Grand Rapids, Kalamazoo, and Lansing.

Honigman’s attorneys practice in more than 60 legal areas and represent clients in a wide variety of industries. Honigman has been recognized 26 times as a “Best and Brightest Companies to Work For” and “Top Workplace.”